I have used the Sierra 220 grain round nose bullet in 300 AAC with good results, it is about $30 per hundred which is about $15 cheaper than the more commonly used 220 grain Match King Hollow Point. Out to 100 yards there is virtually no difference in the ballistics of the two bullets and out to 200 yards the difference is negligible.
This might be a dumb question but does that soft point expand reliably, if at all?
I very much doubt it would expand in anything softer than sand. Or to put it another way, no.
Forgot to mention, these loads do not fit well in a GI mag, they work fine in a P Mag.
Pappabear bought a few hundred of those 220 soft point Sierra Hunters that he might make you a deal on. I tried them in my 1/12 308 as subs and they were yawing and shot 8+ MOA.
I bumped them up to supersonic, and they shot about MOA, but they really fill no roll with us since we don’t shoot 300blk.
To answer your question bluntly -No- as long as you want to shoot a jacketed bullet it will never be cheap. Atleast in todays market. If your wanting to shoot cheaper subs in the 300 Blk your going to have to go with a Cast GC. My Lee 170gr GC mold drops at just over 180gr using WW water quenched and shoots pretty good loaded as a sub. Never shot it much at 100 yards so can’t give an accuracy account. but at 50 yards it was about 3/4" ten shot group. Lee makes a 200gr Mold in .308"
So you can get it an work up a sub load.